On the eating out front, there have been some notable losses – Leodis and Pool Court at 42 – but a whole swathe of gains that include chains such as Restaurant Bar and Grill and Wagamama and independents like Café Guru and the newly-casual York Place.

All this seems a world away from the early stirrings of modern city centre eating that began with the likes of Brasserie 44 and Leodis staking the claim that the city centre was an evening dining destination in itself and not somewhere to escape from at the end of a working day.

So to Arts Café Bar which opened in 1994 on the then rather unsalubrious Call Lane. It remains seemingly unchanged during the time that the area, and indeed the city, has smartened up around it.

The McDermott family, who opened Arts, hit upon a winning formula of
casual drinking and dining in a small shop-front that remains the same to this day.

I visited partly out of nostalgia – this was the site of many happy nights out when I last lived in Leeds – but also to investigate changes. New owners bought Arts last year and new chefs have been installed from The Millrace and Northcote Manor, so I was curious to
see how a venerable institution had responded.

At first sight much is reassuringly the same. I've always liked the lofty room with its casual bar area separated from the dining room by a step.

The trio of glass pendants over the bar are still there, although now lit by energy efficient bulbs of course and there is still art on the walls, though not Dan McDermott's vast canvases.

Welcome-wise, too, the service still manages to mix correctness with casual, friendly good humour that feels genuinely warm. Elegant menu folders are new and contain two menus: a lunch menu with sandwiches, warm salads and plates that look ideal to share and a more formal à la carte available all day and night with a good choice of nine starters and nine mains.

Overall, something for everyone at any time of day. You'd be as happy to visit mid-afternoon for tea and cake as you would for a glass of wine or a beer in the evening, without the feeling that you were intruding in somewhere that only wanted to serve three courses to all and sundry.

We were slow to decide what to eat, which is always a good sign in my book. Three classic brasserie starters – a ham hock terrine, a warm chorizo salad and a home cured salmon – all arrived looking good on the plate, simply presented but well composed. A treacle-cured salmon was fascinating with luscious thickly-sliced fish sweetened by the unusual cure and a sparklingly fresh salad with tiny "micro greens".

Maybe less successful was the pickle and gherkin under the fish as this lacked the acidity to cut the sweetness of the fish, but overall an auspicious start.

The ham hock terrine was good too, being meaty and well-seasoned and, best of all, served at a decent room temperature that allowed its flavour to sing out rather than being so cold from the fridge that any delicacy of seasoning was lost. The chorizo salad was a classic combination of sauté potato and sliced sausage with a poached egg – maybe not the most obvious choice for a warm night, but nevertheless good, if a tad underseasoned.

With all these starters around the £5 mark and of a goodly size, that warm and happy feeling of eating well in convivial surroundings that I always associated with Arts swelled inside.

It could have been the wine though – an excellent Viognier from Sicily whose warm, rounded, peach tones suited the food and the weather and at £13.95 was well priced. The list looks short, but it has 31 bins of still wine including a laudable selection of organic and fairtrade wines and there's plenty of interesting choice
by the glass.

Main courses were both rather substantial, in fact too substantial to be finished, so one guest's choice of a starter rather than a main course looked wise. It was a pity that her scampi and chips, while a good size for a starter, underperformed with rather heavy batter and was underseasoned again too.

A roast breast of chicken with fondant potato and morel cream sauce was just about perfect café food though. A well-cooked breast had the wing bone still in to add to the flavour and the rich sauce was perfumed with morels. A great slab of fondant potato must have contained all my week's allocation of saturated dairy fats – no matter, it was delicious.

Similarly, a Lancashire hot-pot majored on both taste and size; lamb with a full deep flavour cooked to melting and baked with a generous slices of potato. Maybe a strange choice for a warm night, indeed for a spring menu, but great nonetheless.

With mains courses between £10 and £13, these dishes felt excellent value for money and made the side orders beside the point. Indeed, the polenta chips were only really ordered for nostalgia sake and were as good as ever – if rather let down by the mayonnaise.

Puddings were definitely not necessary. But a shared treacle tart with clotted cream (far too rich) was nevertheless delicious and so was the orange and chocolate cheesecake.

All in all I'm reassured and relieved. Leeds may have moved on, the owners of Arts may have changed, but it seems you can still rely on this oasis in an increasingly loud and noisy part of
the city to provide exactly what it has done in the past. That is to say, good value food of decent quality in civilised surroundings with relaxed and friendly service.

Well done Arts, a pioneer when it opened and one that's not just survived, but flourished.

Arts Café Bar, 42 Call Lane, Leeds LS1 6DT. Tel: 0113 243 8243. Open every day from noon till 11pm. Sat until 2am, Sun from 10.30am. On street parking.